T3BRAND in one sentence:
The T3BRAND project is aiming to get the best consulting available for understanding and implementing a coherent brand building and management strategy.
Why does the brand matter?
Brands are a way of thinking about the less tangible dimensions of a product, namely the experiences associated with it. In the case of TYPO3, the vast variety of places and communication channels have lead to an incoherent appearance and a sometimes confusing message.
Moreover, the success that has been driving the incoherence is also demanding the product and the project to evolve in terms of technology and organisation. These changes, that are visible through the advent of the TYPO3 Association and also the roadmap have many effects, among them also considerably disruptive forces within the community.
Consequently, the frequent communication of said changes and a strongly unifying and distinctive visual identity are among the top priorities to make those necessary (r)evolutions easier to understand and smoother to accept. Therefore, at the heart of the T3BRAND project lies the attempt to grasp the spirit of TYPO3 and build a toolset for a coherent communication strategy.
This process is truly strategic, in that it goes far deeper and beyond graphic design, marketing or even research and development. It is based on the most fundamental conviction, that in times when the project changes in many areas, the values and the mission of the project need to be made explicit and be put to use for decision-making as well as communication.
How does T3BRAND work?
In phase 1 (analysis and planning), t3brand was about gathering external experts to learn about branding and devising a roadmap for a branding strategy. The results are published here:
The further steps were identified as:
1. Building the brand platform and defining a branding strategy
2. Creating a style guide and applications
3. Deploying, managing and measuring the brand communication
In phase 2 (Building the brand platform) the driving forces behind the TYPO3 project were to be defined. A questionnaire was posted to several user groups, the consultancies listed on .com and the active members of the TYPO3 Association. Finally Kasper and his choice of most involved developers were holding a workshop to define the common ground: what motivates them in the TYPO3 project, what their ultimate goals are and what values they find essential to be upheld to maintain the project "culture". The results of that workshop are published here:
Vision and Mission: typo3.org/about/typo3/
Roadmap: typo3.org/development/roadmap/
In phase 3 (Creating a style guide and applications) again a variety of external experts were asked to summarize the finding up to this point in the process and define a briefing suitable for creating a style guide and ultimately applications thereof. This briefing is published here: TYPO3 Ci Briefing.
The design process is managed by Rasmus Skjoldan and communicated on the design mailing list and newsgroup.
Phase 3 ends with presenting the style guide and probably also some applications at TYCON3 and subsequently also on these team pages.
Phase 4 will aim to organize the information resources needed for different audiences and applications of the brand communication, by maintaining download-pages with manuals, examples and materials. It will simultaneously require the installation of a permanent team answering questions about the correct use of the materials.
Long-term strategy as as well as ongoing management and review of the brand communication through measurement will need to be fixed among the responsibilities of the TYPO3 Association.
A final workshop for planning and implementing these processes might follow depending on progress made in the first half of 2006.
How to contribute
T3brand has been triggered by criticism brought forward by Jean-Marie Schweizer Starting with the current Logo: association.typo3.org/wiki/index.php/Logo_Redesign
More people have added their expertise in the various stages and so can you, by giving detailed feedback and taking over responsibility for any vacant task fitting your abilities.
For contributors interested in the design part, please look into the design newsgroup and catch up with the current status.
For contributors vested to help in management and controlling of the brand building process, please get in touch with Daniel Hinderink
